Trompe L'oeil
by amyraka
Summary: Where Ladybug leads, Chat Noir follows. Even if she seems to be fleeing from the mere sight of him.
Chat Noir had been waiting for Ladybug on the roof where they started their Saturday evening patrol, crouched on a chimney and idly flexing his fingers as he stared over the lights of the city. The day before had contained a particularly close call during an akuma fight, and an early use of Cataclysm had required him to scamper from the scene just as the butterfly was being purified, so he was eager to spend some time at his lady's side. There was a whisper of displaced air as she landed on the tiles a few meters away.

He stood and stretched, calling a _purr_ -fectly cheerful greeting over his shoulder. She didn't respond. He turned around in time to see the unhappy corners of her mouth pull downwards and firm into a frown.

Abruptly, Ladybug spun on her heel. There was a whir as her yo-yo extended, and then she was swinging away from him.

"My Lady?!" he called out to her, ignoring the fluttery uneasiness that awoke behind the lower edge of his breastbone. He scrabbled for the baton at the small of his back and gave chase. Up walls and across alleyways, the streetlamps blurred in Chat's peripheral vision as he struggled to keep her silhouette in sight. After several minutes at near-top speed, he misjudged a leap and caught his trailing leg on the raised edge of a roof. He managed to turn the faceplant into a roll, but exhaustion from the sudden mad dash kept him flat on his back while heaving for breath.

 _He lost her_ crept into his mind as the queasy tension returned, creeping into his lungs along with the air he needed. Although Chat made the effort to calm his breaths, he could still hear muffled wheezing from somewhere nearby. He sat up. He couldn't possibly be that lucky. But there, as he scanned the rooftop around him, he could see the familiar shape of Ladybug's abandoned yo-yo, and the tip of a red foot peeking from behind the looming shadow of an access door bulkhead. Carefully, Chat hauled himself to his feet and padded over, letting the faint crunch of the rooftop gravel proceed him. The yo-yo remained where it was, string slackened and limp, but the dainty toes retreated from sight.

"Ladybug?" he asked as he rounded the corner.

She was curled into herself, sitting back against the wall of the bulkhead, with her face buried in her knees. Chat quickly knelt down in front of her, but hesitated with his hand hovering where her arms wrapped over her shins. She must have felt the heat from his palm, or perhaps was simply watching from her cocoon, because one of her hands grasped his and tightened, squeezing with a full measure of the strength he knew she had, even if it was accompanied by fine tremors. He brought his other hand up and gave a gentle squeeze back.

"Ladybug?" he asked again, "what's wrong?"

Her face flew upwards, revealing reddened, watery blue eyes that narrowed at him.

"Y-you stupid cat!" she choked out in a voice thickened by tears. He would have jerked backwards at the vehemence of her words were it not for the vice grip she suddenly had on both his hands. It wasn't painful hold, but a very, very solid one, and he would have to exert more effort than he cared to to reclaim his appendages. "You - so - _argh_!" Her gaze cut to the left as she practically snarled in frustration, mouth pulling back into a grimace before her bottom lip caught under her front teeth. Despite the harsh expression, her thumb found the pulse point of Chat's right wrist, tracing slow, delicate circles into the texture of his suit.

"You," Ladybug said quietly, on the heaving edge of a sigh, eyes still averted from him. "You're so willing to throw yourself away for me. With no hesitation! Just there, taking the hit, no matter what. For a second, I thought you were -" her voice hitched, and a fat droplet rolled down her cheek, "- gone. Again. Because I wasn't careful enough."

Chat's eyebrows drew together and he opened his mouth to argue, but apparently his lady hadn't quite finished. She yanked his captured hands towards her, pulling them into the hollow under her chin, and leaving him overbalanced and rather precariously leaning against her bent legs as she glared at him with scant centimeters between their faces.

"And the first time I see you again, you greet me with one of your god-awful puns, like it's _nothing_! Like it didn't happen!" Her head dipped back down, and she seemed to be contemplating the space where their fingers had twined together. "You're so important, and I need you with me," came her muffled words. "Please don't take your safety so lightly, _chaton_."

"My Lady," he said, shifting his weight to find a more comfortable position, "I guess you could say that was im- _paw_ -litic of me?" Here, her affronted gaze flew back to Chat's face, which he met with a blindingly bright Cheshire grin that gentled into something softer as he continued.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I'll try to be more careful in the future, since you'd be so _claw-_ st without me by your side."

Ladybug snorted at that, and one side of her mouth seemed to twitch upwards against her will.

"You'd better," she said, and her starry blue eyes peered searchingly into his.

After a long moment, she twisted her legs beneath herself and rose gracefully to her feet, using their still-joined hands and that prodigious strength to haul him upwards as well. Her touch lingered before finally releasing him, and the cool night air stole the remaining warmth far too quickly.

She retrieved her yo-yo from where it had been dropped, and he saw her scrub briefly at her cheeks as she turned to walk to the edge of the roof.

"Let's get going, kitty," she said, twisting to beckon him with a tilt of her head. "We have places to be."

"Right behind you, my Lady," he called back, and followed.


End file.
